How to handle medicine for TA cruise

[Trueblueky]

DW and I take several medications. We plan to stay in Spain for a while after the cruise. What do you do with medications? I figure to bring 4-weeks, just in case. What do EU and Spanish require?  Bringing original pill bottles doesn't make sense. Do you need copies of prescriptions? Photos of bottles? Is reentry to US an issue?

[BAYA]

I can only report on my own experience last year when I contracted COVID on a river cruise and had to spend an extra week in Amsterdam before flying back to the US.

I brought 7-day pill boxes for three weeks for a planned 2-week trip. The pill boxes had mixed prescription pills and supplements (vitamins, probiotics, etc.) in them. I also brought a printed list of all of my medications. It wasn't practical to bring the original bottles with me. I had no problem with customs and security carrying them in my carry-on bag in both directions.

I ran out of one of my prescriptions overseas and wished I had a printout of the prescription from my doctor with me, but my doctors typically transmit the prescriptions electronically to pharmacy and don't hand out printed prescriptions unless one makes a special request.

[Heidi13]

3 hours ago, Trueblueky said:

DW and I take several medications. We plan to stay in Spain for a while after the cruise. What do you do with medications? I figure to bring 4-weeks, just in case. What do EU and Spanish require?  Bringing original pill bottles doesn't make sense. Do you need copies of prescriptions? Photos of bottles? Is reentry to US an issue?

 

Personally, I prefer to research the requirements rather than follow the recommendations of others, who may, or may not have checked the requirements.

 

I use the UK & Canadian Foreign Office websites, so I expect the US provides a similar service.

[KnitPicker5]

I misunderstood the title. I thought TA meant transatlantic and the thing that would be different from other cruises is that you may have several 23 or 25 hour days.

[Trueblueky]

On 6/22/2023 at 10:58 PM, KnitPicker5 said:

I misunderstood the title. I thought TA meant transatlantic and the thing that would be different from other cruises is that you may have several 23 or 25 hour days.

TA means Transatlantic. Leave from Florida, arrive in Spain, stay a while, fly back to Florida.

 

 

[Ex-Airbalancer]

11 hours ago, Trueblueky said:

TA means Transatlantic. Leave from Florida, arrive in Spain, stay a while, fly back to Florida.

 

 

I thought a TA meant fly to the EU stay for while and than take a ship back to NA 😁

[Hlitner]

I will give you some anecdotal info based on dozens of TAs and other air trips to and from Europe.  While we agree with Heidi13 , we seldom concern ourselves with bringing our drugs on cruises to and around Europe.  That being said, I will emphasize that we do not carry any kind of narcotic product...that being a big concern in many countries.  We usually have all our prescription drugs in original bottles which do have the usual prescribing info that will satisfy most authorities.  On probably 100+ trips to Europe (over many years) nobody has ever even asked about our prescription drugs.  

 

Since our European trips are generally about 2 months (give or take) we often carry a 3 month supply of prescription drugs and some OTC products.  I would again stress that none of our script drugs contain narcotics.  Taking any kind of narcotic on an international trip does require extra research and extreme caution.

 

One other caution is about any drug that contains "Sudafed" (pseudoephedrine).  This drug is prohibited or restricted in various countries around the world (although it is OTC in the USA) and is also contained in many other OTC products.  As a simple example, it is illegal to bring any pseudoephedrine product into Mexico, Japan, etc.  

 

Hank

[CruiserFromMaine]

When we went to Turkey last month, we were advised to bring “letters of medical necessity” from our doctors for all prescription drugs, which we did. The letters were easy to get.

 

I will add that nobody ever asked for them or even looked to see what we had for drugs. But, I realize that’s just one data point. 

[SoloAlaska]

On 6/22/2023 at 8:29 AM, Trueblueky said:

DW and I take several medications. We plan to stay in Spain for a while after the cruise. What do you do with medications? I figure to bring 4-weeks, just in case. What do EU and Spanish require?  Bringing original pill bottles doesn't make sense. Do you need copies of prescriptions? Photos of bottles? Is reentry to US an issue?

Bring original bottles is the best practise on all international travel. One tip is you can always ask your pharmacist for a smaller bottle with the label on it. Have your pharmacist dispense one month of each of your meds before you leave and your set to travel.

[Meander Ingwa]

Using original bottles absolutely does make sense.  Most travel experts and the CDC advise to do so, some countries require it.

 

Bottles are important for control of humidity and light .  The script on the bottle has important information including pill count in cases of emergency where you are not able to give answers

 

The rules are in place and even though authorities may not ask or look for them, when they do, best have things correct.  You never know who is on your flight and when authorities may desire inspection, perhaps based on intelligence or a drug dog alert

 

Ask your pharmacist for smaller bottles.  Ask your doctor for travel exemption if you exceed your refill cycle